But in Orleans Parish, what often dictates whether you stay in jail till you go to court is money. Do you have the money to bond out? History shows poor people and people who aren’t financially liquid and don’t have available funds often sit in jail waiting for a dismissal, or plead guilty often to a minor charge.

It costs taxpayers a lot to keep them in jail, when they could be home or at work while waiting for the wheels of justice to roll on.

The effort to change this has been in the works for almost two years. It’s called pretrial services.
It’s working. It’s saving taxpayers and it’s the right thing to do.

No one who is not a risk should be languishing in jail just because they don’t have the money to get out.